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The Source of Ben Affleck’s Power…Ramble

Ever wonder at the end of “Good Will Hunting” what happened to the affable Affleck character? How bout he took a hard turn, fell from a construction site or got into a fight with the wrong person and damn, Southie style got hooked on drugs to ease the pain and headed into a life of crime. After all, apparently Charlestown, Boston is the highest population of bank robbers- handed down generation to generation like a family trade.

I will admit the first moment I saw Jon Hamm on screen I thought “Cool, Hamm-ertime.” Oh no I didn’t…..oh sadly yes I did but I did refrain from saying this out loud. How did Don Draper do? Let’s just say I wouldn’t be breathing so easy if this was the hardass Fed tracking my moves.

Affleck made a fantastic film here which lights up when the female lead, Rebecca Hall who you might recognize as the uptight Vicky from Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” She shines in this role as does Blake Lively in a much seedier way than we’ve ever seen her. The cast also includes Chris Cooper, Pete Postelewaite and Jeremy Renner as a hardass best friend of Afflecks-slash-brother of Blake’s character, Chris.

After years where the best Affleck work was in the video “I’m f*ckin Ben Affleck” in response to Sarah Silverman’s “I’m F**king Matt Damon,” and suffering the shame of Bennifer 1: The Original and Papparazzi Favorite, while Matt Damon went on to be an action hero I’m beyond happy to see Ben shine in this one. It turns out returning to his hometown of Boston is the source of Affleck power! If you saw “Gone, Baby Gone” by his younger brother Casey it also took place in Boston and was acclaimed.

“The Town” is an intense nail biter that raises questions like “can a person really change their destiny?”